pinterest pick of the week...

pin from my board Calendars 2013

How gorgeous is this 365 Days of Sunshine calendar from little things studio? I spotted it over at Print & Pattern yesterday and had to see more...I just love the colour paletteof hot pinks and yellow teamed with more subtle beige and brown tones. And for those of us living in the UK we often need a reminder that the sun is up there! Hope you all have a lovely sunny weekend friends, see you next week for Decembers top 5 blogs and a button-tastic DIY! x

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a little something in the post...

photos by me / postcard designs copyright Rachael Taylor Designs

Oooh what could this be? I pondered yesterday when this little envelope dropped on my doormat...a lovely little surprise parcel of postcards by Rachael Taylor! As you may remember Rachael was one of the tutors on my recent e-course 'The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design' and so to celebrate the end of our course and as a thank you Rachael and Beth had sent out these little packages, how nice of them! Big thanks again to them both for running such a wonderful course!x

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littletree designs...xmas wrap and tags

image and design copyright Littletree Designs

Hello again friends, today I am sharing some pics of the wrap I have designed for my presents this year...I am lucky as we have an A3 printer at home so I can print relatively large sheets. The design was originally on a white background but I thought I would try it on brown paper to see how the colours came out and being a brown paper fan I loved the results! Unfortunately I didn't have any brown card for the tags but the contrast is quite nice. I was wondering about maybe offering the patterns for sale on Etsy for you to print at home...what do you think?x

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littletree's little things...

So for the four 'little things' that have been making me happy this week I have one big thing that hasn't...we still don't have a date for our move! It is dragging on FOREVER and Christmas is looming...never mind there is nothing we can do but wait, I think it's the helplessness that makes it worse! Anyway, enough moaning there are plenty more things to be happy about!

1// pic taken by me  2//  3// pic taken by me  4//

...one of the biggest happy moments of the past week was getting to see First Aid Kit LIVE and singing along of course...

...hot chocolate goodness, perfect for warming up on these wild and windy nights...

...still getting eggs from our little chickens even though the weather has turned and nothing beats a super fresh oozy cheese omelet for dinner...

...and finally I am eternally grateful to whoever invented thermals, you are my hero! I can't help it I'm a cold person and these things matter...

A bit of a funny old mix this week but then isn't that the point? All those odd little things that perk up our days and make life a little sweeter. Happy days to you all!x

PS - Check out how Jen is getting on with her 52 Weeks of Happy this week too!

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littletree visits...Liberty's for Christmas

Happy Monday blog peeps! Hope you had a good weekend? So as I mentioned in my First Aid Kit post last week I was in London and so of course it being Christmas time I had to stop by the beautiful Liberty's. Every year the store is transformed into a Christmas wonderland with every surface covered in fairy lights and sparkle, it is a truly magical place...even more magical for me because they had a pop up RE shop!

I'm sure I have waffled on about RE before so I won't bore you again, just to say that RE sells a lovely mix of vintage, re-cycled, re-loved and up-cycled products that I know you will all drool over...lucky for us they have an online shop here so you can see what all the fuss is about! I am particularly drooling over the big white paper baubles in the bottom left pic...and they were very reasonable too!

Out from Liberty's is the always exciting Carnaby Street which this year has been decorated to reflect the streets musical heritage with giant gold disks floating in a cluster above our heads...we stopped at Carnaby Burger Co. for dinner and left completely stuffed! You know when something tastes so good that you just have to eat it all? That's what this was like...plus there was a great selection of traditional burgers, chicken and plenty of veggie options, which shows a good restaurant in my books! Hope you have enjoyed my little picture jaunt around London, pop by tomorrow for this weeks 'little things'...x

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pinterest pick of the week...

find pin on my board Christmas Stuff...

Happy Friday blog peeps! Now I know it isn't quite full on Christmas season yet but I had to share this image from the Free People blog...I love this creative take on a Christmas Tree using bits and bobs from around the home, photos and decorations...I think there is even a plug socket in there too?! Like they say on the Free People blog 'they're like the tree and ornaments all in one!'

This would be lovely to build gradually over the month so by the 25th you will have a full tree...and I'm sure the kids would love to get involved, adding a decoration a day rather than an advent calendar! I hope you all have great weekends and I'll see you back here soon...x

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they’re like the tree and the ornaments all in one!

Source: a very clever christmas tree | Free People Blog http://blog.freepeople.com/2008/12/a-very-clever-christmas-tree/#ixzz2D2QXOy1E

Source: a very clever christmas tree | Free People Blog http://blog.freepeople.com/2008/12/a-very-clever-christmas-tree/#ixzz2D2QXOy1E

they’re like the tree and the ornaments all in one!

Source: a very clever christmas tree | Free People Blog http://blog.freepeople.com/2008/12/a-very-clever-christmas-tree/#ixzz2D2QXOy1E

they’re like the tree and the ornaments all in one!

Source: a very clever christmas tree | Free People Blog http://blog.freepeople.com/2008/12/a-very-clever-christmas-tree/#ixzz2D2QXOy1E

littletree visits...London to see First Aid Kit!

Hello lovely bloggers...So if you follow me on twitter you will know that on Tuesday I went to see the fabulous First Aid Kit in London! Eeeep! My friend and I were so excited and we were definitely not disappointed, the wonderful Klara and Johanna were on top form and the venue was buzzing...the support act Amanda Bergman (aka Idiot Wind) was also amazingly talented and she came out for the encore to sing one of my favourite FAK songs 'King of the World'...

We were also treated to a beautiful cover of Simon and Garfunkel's 'America' by the FAK girls, which you can listen to above...I love the original song anyway so it was really extra special! This video was from the First Aid Kit You Tube channel where they have lot's more music if you fancy a listen! I do hope you do! x

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littletree bakes...toffee apple muffins

So yesterday I teased you with a sneak preview of these Toffee Apple Muffins and I promise they do not disappoint! They are possibly even better than the Nutella Muffins I baked a few weeks back...and I am a BIG Nutella fan so that says alot!

The idea for these came about when I had one stray (past it's best) apple, half a packet of fudge plus my desire for something slightly spicy and autumnal to scoff with a warm glass of apple juice one afternoon...and so the Toffee Apple Muffin was born! Ok, enough rambling from me, here's the recipe...


Ingredients

• 9oz Self Raising Flour
• 1tsp Baking Powder
• 4oz Caster Sugar 
• A pinch of Salt
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 3 fl oz Vegetable/Sunflower Oil
• 5 fl oz Milk
• 1 Egg
• 1 Large Apple
• 8-10 Fudge Chunks

Let's Bake!  

• Preheat your oven to 190-200c and line a 12 hole muffin tin.
• In a large bowl combine the Flour, Baking Powder, Sugar, Salt and Cinnamon. Stir until well combined.
• In a separate jug measure out the Oil, Milk and add in the Egg, give a quick whisk to combine.
• Chop the Fudge chunks into small pieces, put aside. Chop the Apple into roughly similar sized chunks to the fudge, put aside.
• Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add your Oil, Milk and Egg mix. Stir until just combined.
• Now add in your Fudge and Apple, stir a few times to evenly distribute the chunks of goodness...this is a thick batter but remember the apple will release moisture during cooking.
• Divide the mix equally between the muffin cases and pop in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden.
• Leave to cool on a wire rack and resist if you can!

Optional Brown Sugar Cinnamon Glaze

•  3oz Icing Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Brown Sugar
• A Pinch of Cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and gradually add hot water a teaspoon at a time and stir until the brown sugar dissolves. You want a runny liquid that's easy to drizzle over the cool muffins and makes them super sticky!

I really hope you try this one, they are super scrummy!x

All pictures taken by me

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new collection...bird city

Image Copyright Littletree Designs

Hello blog peeps! Sorry for the lack of posts yesterday it has all been a bit manic this weekend! Hope you all had slightly less stressful ones than me...anyhow today I have a sneaky peek of a new pattern collection I have been working on called 'Bird City' featuring all of these cute little bird houses. I started this design originally for a Spoonflower comp but couldn't get along with the set colour palette so I kept the idea to develop myself! What do you think friends, I always value your opinions!

In another sneak peek this picture below is of this weeks upcoming littletree bakes post...TOFFEE APPLE MUFFINS! Stop by tomorrow for the recipe, you won't be sorry! x

pic by me!

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pinterest pick of the week...

Pin from my board Random Stuff...

Well seeing as it is Movember I had to share this fab picture for everyone out there who cannot grow a mustache! And as most of us are ladies I'm guessing thats us! And anyway who doesn't love a little mustache fun? I'm off to my Grandads 80th Birthday party on Saturday which is going to be a big family fest!

Hope you all have great weekends to! x

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